Publican drank in rival bar to flag up ‘unfair licensing laws’

A BAR owner deliberately drank in a rival nightclub until the early hours while his own premises was being raided by gardaí.

Publican Brendan Devine said he did so in a bid to plead with a judge that he was being unfairly treated.

Mr Devine appeared at Falcarragh District Court charged with three counts of serving alcohol after hours at Rooney’s Nightclub in Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal.

He admitted to all three counts but pleaded his case when allowed to give evidence.

The breach of the licensing laws summons related to incidents on September 14, 2015, September 12, 2016 and September 27, 2016.

The court was told by Inspector Seán Grant that, on the first occasion, gardaí visited Rooney’s Nightclub at 1.40am and found more than 200 people on the premises with alcohol being served.

On September 12, 2016, just under an hour after the scheduled closing time, gardaí found 300 people on the premises with music playing and alcohol being served from two bars.

On the next date, September 27, 2016, more than 60 people were on the premises at 2am.

The accused’s solicitor said his client could not understand why his premises was the only premises in the area to be visited by gardaí and prosecuted. Judge Kelly replied: ‘Perhaps the fact that there were 200 or 300 people on the premises might be a clue.’

Mr Devine took the witness stand but Judge Kelly warned him that he had admitted to the three summons and he would not allow him to use the stand as a soap box.

However, Mr Devine said the licensing system was a ‘disgrace’. He told the court how on the night his premises was raided by gardaí, himself and his son had visited a premises in Letterkenny and were able to drink until 2.30am.

He waved a document to the court claiming that Judge Kelly had granted exemptions until 2.30am and that this was actually illegal.

However, Judge Kelly said that Mr Devine had admitted to the offences and he described the offence committed on September 14 as ‘utterly premeditated and deliberate’.

He told him other establishments which had broken the licensing laws had also been prosecuted. He fined the accused a total of €1,750.